


Constant Craving

by anditsbritt



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is a jock and Catra ends up being her athletic trainer, Adora is in grade 12 and Catra skipped a grade, Basketball AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24919396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anditsbritt/pseuds/anditsbritt
Summary: After Adora suffers an injury while playing basketball, she must work through some big decisions that determine what her future will hold.Catra graduated early and now has to volunteer as the athletic trainer.Both haven't spoken to each other in eight years, and the way they finally speak is not how they thought it would happen.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 140





	1. Ends and Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention of leg injury.

“C’mon Adora, please don’t go.” Catra sat beside her best friend never taking her eyes off of the floor. She knew if she took even so much of a peek towards Adora, the water works would begin.

Catra always felt comfortable in their room. They were allowed to share the attic since the two girls had been at the orphanage since they were infants, and Catra wouldn’t have it any other way. It was a place where they could be themselves, build forts and then sleep in them, and where Adora would throw crumpled pieces of paper into the trash bin from across the room. It was a place where Catra always felt happy, until now.

The two girls sat beside each other on the edge of their bed. Normally, each child in the orphanage had their own, but Catra and Adora decided to move their twin size beds together to create one large one. They had promised Madame Razz that it would only be temporary since Catra was having nightmares, but three years had past, along with Catra’s nightmares, and the beds had never moved apart from each other. 

Adora playfully bumped her shoulder into Catra's, trying to cheer the other girl up as best as she could. “You know I have to go, Catra. Madame Razz says this is a good opportunity for me.”

“I don’t care about Madame Razz, she’s a stupid face.” Catra brought her knees up to her chest and rested her face into her legs, still avoiding locking eyes with Adora. She really didn’t mean those harsh words about Razz. That was Catra's number one defence mechanism, words. 

“Don’t be like that, she’s always treated us good.” Adora leaned over, trying to make eye contact with her best friend. She had no such luck as she noticed the brunette kept her eyes shut and her face buried into her knees.

“If she’s so nice why do you want to leave, why do you want to leave me?” Catra began to sob which in turn started to make Adora cry.

Adora placed her hand on top of Catra's knees and felt the tension rise from the other girl. “Please Catra, look at me.” Adora let out a few sobs.

Catra was reluctant to look up from her knees, but hearing Adora's unsteady words got her attention. She didn’t want to make her best friend cry. She hated when Adora was upset. So instead of being stubborn like Madame Razz always says she is, she turned her head so the side was still resting on her knees but her face was now in the direction of Adora's and her eyes were staring into her friends.

“You’ll always be my best friend, you know that right.”

Catra nodded.

“We have been in this stupid place since we were babies, and now we're eight, we're practically teenagers.” Adora watched as Catra blinked away a tear. “Just because I’m getting adopted today, doesn’t mean we won’t see each other again. This family I’m going with today, they’re super nice and even bought me ice cream. You know how much I love ice cream.”

Catra let out a small chuckle. She couldn’t help but think back to the numerous days her and Adora used to sneak into the kitchen so they could have extra ice cream after dinner. Adora was never the sneakiest person, so they got caught regularly. Catra would always take the blame because she hated seeing Adora upset. She would explain to Madame Razz that she needed extra ice cream because her sugars were low. She didn’t actually know what this meant, she had heard it on a television show one day and used it as an excuse ever since. The older woman never really got upset at the two girls. How could she, when she would walk into the kitchen there was never a doubt of seeing Catra sitting on Adora's shoulders prying open the freezer and trying to get the ice cream out. She explained to the girls if they wanted an extra scoop all they had to do was ask. The two girls never did ask, they preferred the sneaky way. 

“I just wish I could go with you.” Catra finally let her knees down and wiped away the bundle of tears that had formed. She was steadily crying now and couldn’t hold back the hiccups that were starting to escape.

“Me too, and you know I tried. I was even going to sneak you in my suitcase, but Madame Razz only gave me a small one.” Adora frowned as her eyes travelled to her packed suitcase that sat beside their bed. “And you know I don’t want to leave you. You’re my bestest friend in the whole entire world, you always will be.” This time her eyes were on Catra.

The two girls sat in silence for what felt like forever, but was really only three minutes. Catra was starting to get the courage to tell Adora that when her new family got there she was holding onto Adora and never letting go. If Adora's new family wanted her, they were going to have to take the other small girl with them. 

It was a loud yell that brought her out of that thought.

“Adora! Come downstairs please! The Grayskulls are here!”

Adora couldn’t help but let out a whimper as the time finally came. She didn’t want to leave her best friend, but she didn't want to live in the orphanage forever. Adora stood up and now it was her turn to wipe away the tears with her sleeve. As she was doing so she felt Catra stand up beside her, the brunette shaking from sobs. 

The two girls latched onto each other, their embraces so tight no one could have broken them apart. Catra tightly had her eyes shut and face tucked into Adora's neck. Adora resting her head on Catra's shoulder. 

“I’m going to miss you so so much.” Adora tried her hardest to not fully break down. “And you know that I love you, right.”

Adora smiled when she felt Catra nod her head, not wanting to move from the other girls embrace.

“Adora, it’s time to leave.” The two girls finally let go of each other to see Madame Razz leaning against the doorframe. It tore her apart having to see the two girls be separated for the first time in their lives. However, she knew it was for the best. Adora was going to be a part of a great family, and hopefully Catra would follow soon.

Adora just sadly nodded, as she grabbed a hold of her suitcase and began to make her way out of the room. She was almost at the second and final set of stairs when she heard Catra yell.

“Adora, wait!” Adora turned around to see Catra running after them with something in her arms. It made Adora smile when she saw what it was.

“I want you to have this.” Catra handed over a large stuffed animal that resembled a cat. It was burgundy and blue in colour, and almost as big as some of the children at the orphanage. She had found it when the orphanage went out on an outing about two years ago. A family had put it out on the curb for garbage day and Catra had begged Madame Razz to bring it back, wash it up and let Catra have it. Obviously not having the heart to say no, Catra carried the cat, with the help of Adora, all the way back to the orphanage. Both girls watched as Madame Razz washed it and put it aside to dry. By the next night the large cat was sitting at the foot of their bed and hadn’t moved since.

Adora tried to thank Catra but only tears escaped. Adora knew how much Melog, the stuffed cat, meant to Catra. She often said it was the only thing that she ever really owned.

Madame Razz knelt down so she was at both girls level. 

“You girls can call each other and write letters you know. Maybe Adora can even visit sometime, this doesn’t have to be goodbye.”

Catra nodded and watched Madame Razz stand back up and grab a hold of Adora’s suitcase since the little blonde decided carrying Melog was more important.

“Bye, Adora.” Catra watched as Adora and Madame Razz made their way down the second set of stairs. 

Adora looked back at her best friend one last time, making sure to give her the best smile she could manage. She then turned back around and gave the same smile to her new family that had been patiently waiting at the foot of the stairs.

Catra could have gone downstairs as well, could have said goodbye to Adora there, could have had another ten minutes with Adora if she wanted to. But she didn’t. She didn’t want to see Adora with her new family. Adora was her family and it was always going to be like that. 

Instead, Catra went back to their room and went over to the single window that faced the road. She stood there for ten minutes and watched as Adora walked out of the orphanage one last time. She watched as Adora carried the stuffed cat into the car where one of her new parents buckled her in, shut the door, and walked around to the drivers side of the car. She watched as Adora looked up at the window, the very same one her and Catra had stared out of so many times while they talked about the day they would both move out of this place, together. Catra looked down into the car Adora was in and saw one last wave from the blonde. 

Catra watched as the car Adora was in started driving away. She watched as her best friend in the whole entire world got smaller and smaller. She watched as the only person she considered family began her move to the other side of the country, without her.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


One year later

Adora was nine now, she had been with the Greyskulls for a little over a year and she loved it. She went to a real school that had gym class, a cafeteria, and recess, Adora's favourite. She had so many new clothes, toys, and even her own room. She was happy about those things as well, but she still thought something, or rather someone was missing. 

Adora lived on the West coast now, so she hadn’t been able to visit her best friend in the whole entire world since the orphanage was on the East. That didn’t stop the two girls however, they FaceTimed, called, even wrote letters to one another, Catra wanted to show off her new drawing skills she had picked up since Adora left. Adora hung each one of Catra's drawings on the wall, proud of her best friend's skills. 

Everything was going smoothly until about three months ago. Adora called the Orphanage on Friday, like she did every week, and asked for Catra when Madame Razz answered the call. However, Catra wasn’t there. She had gotten adopted and had already moved out her things the day prior. Adora found it odd that Catra hadn’t told her about, but Madame Razz assured Adora that Catra had her phone number and street address so she was still able to keep in contact with her. Razz wasn’t allowed to give out any information about Catra's new family so the small blonde had to wait for Catra to contact her.

But she didn’t. At least not in the three months since she had been adopted. Adora’s mothers found it quite odd that there had been no contact from Catra, so Mara took it upon herself to call Madame Razz one rainy afternoon while Adora wasn’t eavesdropping. 

“ Hello, Madame Razz? This is Mara Greyskull.”

The two women talked on the phone for twenty minutes. Not a lot of information was allowed to be said between Razz and Mara, only that the adoption process went abnormally quick between the new family and the Orphanage. Madame Razz was not in charge of the adoption process herself, she was only in charge of looking after the children. The “higher ups” as everyone calls them, deal with the physical adoption process. 

Hanging up the phone, Mara quickly discussed the conversation with her wife. No new information was gained from the phone call so they decided not to bring it up with Adora. Instead they made their way up the stairs and into Adora’s room to see what she was up to. Both women had noticed lately that the small blonde hadn’t been herself lately.

Adora was sitting on her bed, next to the stuffed cat Catra had given her, and was looking through a couple pieces of paper with drawings Adora had finished.

“ What are you doing, sweetheart?” Hope, Adora’s other adopted mother, sat down on the edge of the bed. Mara followed.  
“ Catra is always drawing pictures for me, I think it’s my turn to send one. Maybe the reason she hasn’t called or written is because her hand is sore from all the amazing pictures.” Adora slightly smiled as she continued to flip through the two drawings. They were not nearly as good as Catra’s, but she was still proud of them. “I worked extra hard on these ones, I just know she’s going to love them. Now all I have to do is wait.”

Mara looked over to her wife and slightly shook her head. It was painful to see their daughter look so hopeful, yet sad at the same time. “How about you give me these pictures and I’ll mail them out for you.”

Adora's eyes went wide, her smile doubled in size as she heard her mother’s sentence. “Really? How? I thought we don’t know where she lives?”

“I have a special stamp, it can be mailed to anyone, anywhere.” Mara faked a smile and Hope followed. 

Adora started jumping up and down on her bed, shaking everyone who was on it. “ Thank you thank you thank youuuuu, Mama!” Adora plopped down and threw her arms around her mother. “I can’t wait for Catra to get these.” Adora scrambled off her bed and ran all the way to Mara's office to retrieve a couple envelopes.

“Special stamps?” Hope raised an eyebrow as she took her wife's hand. “What happens when she doesn’t get a reply?”

“We’ll have to explain to her that these special stamps only deliver letters.”

Hope slightly frowned. “I don’t know…”

“It’s better than nothing. At least for right now. You see how sad she’s gotten, at least this way she can still get her feelings out.” Mara squeezed Hope’s hand.

“Okay, okay. But you're going to be the one that explains this to her when the time comes.” Hope had to whisper the last bit as Adora came running back in with three times the amount of envelopes that she needed.

“I got the envelopes, now all we need is Mama’s magic stamps!” Adora’s smile was the biggest it had been in weeks. She placed the envelopes on her bed as she folded her drawings and put them in the sleeve.

Mara watched as her daughter picked what drawing went into what envelope. She happened to glance over at her daughters desk and noticed another drawing, unfinished. There was a red crayon resting beside it.

“What about this one? Are you going to send Catra this one once it is finished?” Mara picked up the unfinished drawing and looked it over. It was clear that the picture was supposed to be her daughter and Catra. They looked like they were on a playground or something similar. Mara wasn’t positive since her daughter wasn’t the best at drawing.

“No, that one isn’t good enough.” Adora took the paper from her mother’s hand, crumbled it up and threw it in the trash can that was on the other side of the room. Everyone in the room watched as it went in.

Normally Mara and Hope would remind their daughter that it was not polite to grab from others, but they were both shocked that Adora had gotten that paper ball into the bin.

“Wow, that was an amazing throw, sweet heart.” Adora looked up at Hope.

“Huh?” Adora wasn’t paying much attention as she finished licking the back of the envelopes she stuffed the pictures into.

Mara gently touched Adora’s hand to get her attention. “The paper ball, you threw it and it went into the bin.”

Adora smiled and nodded. “Oh yea, it’s something that Catra and I use to do all the time. The first one to get it in got the others desert.” Adora paused for a moment, thinking back to the fun memory. “Catra wasn’t very good at the game. She mostly liked to watch”

The small blonde went back to her envelopes. Mara and Hope continued to sit on the bed and watch as their daughter finished with the drawings. It was then that Mara got an idea.

“Have you ever thought about playing basketball?” Adora and Hope looked at Mara at the same time. Hope looking a little shocked.

“I play it in gym class sometimes, it’s really fun.” Adora handed the envelopes to her mom.

“I don’t mean in a class, sweetheart. I’m talking about playing on an actual team, making new friends, playing real games.” Mara smiled as she encouraged her daughter.

“New friends?” Adora fiddled with her fingers, a habit she does when she’s unsure about something. 

This time it was Hope that chimed in. “They won’t replace your old friends, Adora.”

Adora smiled and nodded. “I think I’d like that. Playing basketball.” Adora stumbled a little bit with her words, her emotions being a bit nervous but excited. She had never been on a team, or really had that many friends. It was always just her and Catra.

Mara stood up, envelopes in one hand and Hope’s hand in the other. Hope stood up as well and put her hand out for Adora to take.

“I’ll put my special stamps on these and then sign you up for a basketball team right away, how does that sound?” Mara looked down at her daughter.

“Perfect, Mama. I can’t wait!” Adora bounced up and down as the three women made their way out of Adora's room. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


Eight years later

“I never understand why you keep this thing at the end of your bed? Like what if you have a girl over and the thing is just staring at you the whole time”

Adora looks over and watches as her friend, Glimmer, picks up the stuffed cat that laid at the bottom of the bed. Adora dropped the shorts she was about to pack in her duffle bag and went over to the old looking cat.

“Don’t touch that.” Adora took the stuffed animal from her friends hand and placed it back where it belonged, on her bed. “ It’s like the only thing I have from when I was little.” She frowned a little as she turned back around and continued to pack. With her back towards her friend she stopped for a moment and sighed. She didn’t mean for it to sound so dramatic. “And you know I can’t have any girls over, unless it’s you.” She added an eye-roll even though Glimmer wasn’t able to see it.

Adora listened as she heard Glimmer get up and make her way over to her friend. “You know I’m only teasing you, right?” Glimmer picked up a pair of socks that was beside the duffle bag and put them inside.

Adora sighed as she ran her hand through her long blonde hair. “I know, I know. I’m just so fucking stressed right now.” She walked over to her desk chair and plopped down. She leaned back and groaned. “Coach has me doing two-a-days, plus film. I’m also so behind in Chemistry and physics right now, it’s not even funny.” Adora looked over at the chemistry textbook that laid on her floor, unopened. She didn’t even know where her physics book was. 

“And what about these?” Glimmer picked up a stack of envelopes and folders that were sitting on the desk. It was about fourteen different offer letters and packets that came from universities. All offering Adora to play basketball at their school, some throwing the blonde a hefty amount of money to attend there. Adora hadn’t even begun to think about those yet. She still had four months to choose, that was plenty of time.

“I don’t know, Glimmer. I’m soooo tired.” Adora closed her eyes as she ran her hands through her hair. Once her hands were free she felt Glimmer take a hold of them and pull her up from the chair. Adora was actually pretty impressed with her friend's strength.

“No more groaning, moaning, or complaining. We’re going away for the weekend, our team is going to kick some ass, and you're going to win MVP. So enjoy it. I don’t want you to think of anything else until our trip is over, okay?”

Adora rolled her eyes as she gave her friend a smirk. It wasn’t hard for Adora to focus solely on basketball, she loved the sport. “I probably will win MVP, eh.” Adora and Glimmer laughed. Ever since Adora was thirteen it was normal for the blonde to win MVP at any given tournament. It’s hard to not win the award when you average 34 points a game and your team has gone undefeated for the past two years.

“Let’s go.” Glimmer made her way to Adora’s bedroom door and opened it up. She had her car keys in one hand and her wallet in the other.

“But I haven’t finished packing yet.” Adora looked over to her half full duffle bag.

“You have all night to finish packing. I just got a text from Bow, he wants us to come over and choose what mascot suit to bring to the tournament.”

Adora rolled her eyes, once again, as she followed her friend out of her room. They made their way downstairs, past the kitchen and to the front door. On their way past Adora slipped into the kitchen to let her parents know she was going over to Bow’s house and that she would be back in a few hours. 

Adora jogged to Glimmer’s silver Honda Civic that was parked in the driveway. A song she didn’t recognize was playing over the radio as she entered the vehicle. Glimmer put the car into reverse as she backed out of the driveway.

“I got a text from Mermista while you were saying goodbye to your moms. Apparently, there's a team that’s in the tournament with us, and they’re talking trash about us. Saying that they’re going to beat us and bring home the tournament championship.” 

Glimmer slightly turned down the radio as she continued to drive down the street, towards Bow’s house.

Adora continued to look out the passenger side window. Stuff like this happened all of the time. When your team doesn’t lose for two years, other teams try to get in your head. 

“Who cares what they say. This happens every single time we go to these invitational tournaments. Teams get a hint that were undefeated and start talking trash. I’m not worried.”

It wasn’t until Adora stepped on that basketball court and saw who her opponent was during the championship game. It wasn’t until her team, the Brightmoon Bulldogs, lost to the Horde Huskies. It wasn’t until Adora struggled to score against the other team, only scoring ten points in the first three quarters. It wasn’t until Adora went up for a rebound and landed awkwardly on her left leg. It wasn't until she couldn't put any weight on her leg and collapsed to the floor in agony. It wasn’t until she watched her athletic trainer and the Hordes trainer sprint onto the court to see how bad it was. It wasn’t until she noticed her knee wasn’t in the correct position anymore. It wasn’t until she looked up to see the Horde trainer and saw Catra give Adora a wink, and say “Hey, Adora.” 

That was when sheer panic washed over Adora, a panic she hadn't felt since she was eight years old and had to say goodbye to her best friend in the entire world.

She didn’t know if it was due to pure shock, or just panic, but Adora couldn’t take the pain any longer. She saw blackness fill her vision as her eyes closed shut. The last thing she saw were those unique eyes she remembered staring at many years ago.

 _This has to be a dream._ That was the last thing Adora remembered before waking up to unfamiliar surroundings.


	2. Pain and Suffering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention of leg injury.

Catra loathed school. The thought of waking up early, dragging her ass out of bed, attempting to eat something, and putting up with her unusual cheerful roommate was hell. Yet, she did it every single day, even on the weekends, because going to school was one hundred percent better than putting up with her parental figure.

It turns out that Catra was actually pretty good at class. In high school she had achieved a perfect GPA and was able to take extra classes during the summer so she could graduate early. But Catra never cared about that. All she wanted to focus on was art. That was what she loved to do. 

However, Weaver wasn’t having any of that. She was the president of Etheria University and she was not having Catra going to an art school. What she wants, goes. That’s how Catra ended up studying pre med at Etheria. She doesn’t miss a class, pass anything in late, or talk back to the professors. She knows Weaver has eyes on her during class, and frankly she's had enough backlash from her for a lifetime. 

“Good morning, Catra!!” Catra grimaced as she dragged herself out of her room and into the kitchen her and her roommate shared.

“Too early, Scorpia. I need coffee first.” Catra plopped herself down at the kitchen table as she watched Scorpia move around the kitchen. It was the same routine every morning. Scorpia woke up everyday at 6 AM to work out. After she was finished Scorpia would then wash up, and start to make the morning coffee just in time for Catra to wake up at eight and get ready for the day.

Scorpia took out Catra’s favourite mug and poured the hot liquid into it. She then placed it in front of the smaller girl and waited until she was finished with her first sip.

“Good?” Scorpia already knew the answer as she sat down in the chair that was opposite from Catra. 

Catra just nodded as she continued to take another long sip from her mug.

“I seriously do not know how you drink it with no sugar, cream, or milk.” Scorpia took a sip from her water bottle. “What are the plans for today, I expected you to sleep in a little longer since it’s Sunday.”

Catra placed her mug down on the table and looked over at the clock that was hanging on the wall. “I have a meeting with Weaver in about ten minutes. Then I’ll just stay in the library for a few hours, I have this stupid physics assignment due tomorrow.” She picked her mug back up and finished the rest of the coffee. She got up from the chair and walked over to the sink and placed the dirty mug in. “Oh yea, I have to volunteer at this high school basketball tournament tonight.” Catra rolled her eyes as she walked over to the front door of the apartment to put her combat boots on. 

“What are you doing that for, you hate sports.” Scorpia spun around her chair so she was facing her roommate.

“Fucking Weaver is making me. Something about looking good on my resume or some shit.”

Catra finished putting her boots and winter jacket on and opened the door. “I’ll see you later on tonight, I’m just going to leave for the library from the meeting with Weaver.”

With that Catra walked out the door and shut it behind her. She decided walking to Weaver’s office would be better than driving and having to find a parking space. While walking she took in her surroundings. The slush on the roads, the snow on the trees, the untouched frost that lined the very old campus buildings. Catra took out her phone, ignoring the four text messages from Weaver and took a picture of the landscape that was in front of her. She knew this would be a perfect picture to draw once she was settled into the library. She glanced at the time on her phone as she was putting it away and noticed it was already a few minutes later when she normally arrived for their weekly Sunday meetings.

Eight minutes later, Catra walked into Weavers office, not bothering to knock. She loudly shut the door behind her as she stomped the slush that had accumulated on her boots. She took off her large winter jacket and hung it on the coat rack that was beside the door. She brushed away a few flurries that fell on her ripped jeans, making the skin underneath them cold to the touch.

“Finished?” Weaver walked out of her office room and into the secretary space where all her guests came in. Usually they have to sign in and wait, but on Sundays it was only her and Catra. No one to overhear their disagreements.

Catra didn’t say anything. She shrugged and made a hand gesture in the direction of Weaver’s office. She just wanted to get it done and over with. Both women walked into the room, Weaver sitting in her overly large office chair and Catra sitting in an uncomfortable chair opposite of her.

“How are your grades this week?” Catra watched as the older women took out a folder and flipped through numerous amounts of paper.

“You know how my grades are.” Catra wasn’t going to act stupid. She knew Weaver had already looked through these papers before she got there. She does every single week, yet still asks the same stupid question without fault.

“No need to be like that, Catra. I’m trying to help. You know I only have your best interest in mind.”

Catra didn’t say anything, because she knew it was bullshit. Weaver never cared about her and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Instead of speaking, Catra slightly tilted her head down and stared at her lap.

“I see here that you have a A- in Biology, why is that?” Catra could feel Weaver’s eyes staring directly at her. Instead of looking up, Catra just shrugged. “Well that can’t be. You’ll have to bring that up to an A+ by the end of the semester.”

Catra looked up as Weaver took out another piece of paper from her desk drawer. She scanned the notes until she stopped about halfway down the paper. “It looks like your exam is on the eighteenth, you have close to two weeks to prepare, that should be plenty of enough time. I expect you to perform at the highest level, Catra. I can’t have anyone associated with me who is performing below expectations. I want better from you. Is that clear?”

Catra nodded. Her glance was pinned to the desk, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. “Can I leave now?”

“You may.” Weaver was the first one to stand however, she waited until Catra did the same so she could walk behind Catra to the door. “Do not forget, you are volunteering at the Horde’s Basketball tournament tonight. They are in need of a trainer and thought that would be the perfect fit for you.”

Catra just rolled her eyes as she put her jacket back on. She made sure her back was towards Weaver so she didn’t catch her being disrespectful. 

“Obviously you don’t know me very well.” Catra said this in a low murmur so the older women couldn’t hear.

“Hmm, what was that?” Weaver raised an eyebrow, waiting for Catra to respond with something snarky. It never came.

Catra opened the door to leave the room when Weaver stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Catra tensed what felt like every muscle in her body when she felt the unwanted touch. She wished she could say something, wished she could do something, but she knew she couldn’t. Not yet anyways.

“Don’t forget this.” Catra slightly turned to see Weaver handing her a tote bag that seemed to be half way filled.

Catra accepted that bag and looked inside it. “What’s this for?”

“It's your uniform for tonight, it’s not required but I thought it would be wonderful if you dressed professionally for once. There is also medical supplies in there, just in case something happens during the game.”

Catra dug through the bag, in it was a red polo with the school logo on the front left breast pocket, and khaki pants. She couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous she would look. At the bottom were a few common medical supplies that anyone could get from a local pharmacy. “No way in hell am I wearing this.”

“You will wear it.” Catra didn’t say anything as she walked out the office, not bothering to say anything else to Weaver. She was halfway down the long hallway of the building when she heard Weaver yell one last thing her way.

“Don’t be late next time.” Followed by the door slamming.

It wasn’t until Catra was outside that she noticed she was holding her breath. She let out a large sigh and then breathed in a refreshing amount of cold air. Finally she was done with her for another week. The brunette dreaded Sunday mornings, she knew these meetings were always going to be rough, that’s why she made it a habit to look forward to afterwards. She would walk to the library, sit in her favourite spot, a window that was overlooking the campus, and pull out her pencils and drawing pad. She never did any school work on Sundays, it was always just her and her art work. She tells Scorpia that she goes to work on assignments, but it’s only because no one knows about her drawing skills. She keeps it a secret, just because she likes it better that way. It’s just Catra and her drawings, the same way it has been for the past eight years.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


Before she knew it, Catra had to leave so she wasn’t late to the tournament. It was a two hour drive and she was supposed to be there an hour early just in case any of the players needed anything tapped. Of course, Catra didn’t know how to do this, her main job was to pass the spray and tape. She was confident in her first aid abilities, however. If someone started to choke or if there happened to be an injury of some sort, she knew how to stabilize it, though she really didn’t want it to come to that. She wanted to do as little as possible so she could get out of there as quick as she could.

Catra made a quick stop at her apartment so she could change into the awful polo shirt Weaver had given her to wear. She still refused to wear the khaki pants so instead she put on a pair of black leggings and slipped her black combat boots back on. She didn’t care if Weaver heard about her not wearing the hideous pants, she would take any punishment that would come her way.

Catra tried to slip out of the apartment without being seen, but sure enough Scorpia jumped out from the living room and took a few pictures of Catra before she put her winter jacket back on.

“Wow, Catra in a polo, never thought I’d see the day.” Scorpia laughed as she watched her friend hastily zip up her jacket, grab her car keys, and sling her backpack over one shoulder. It was heavier that usual as it now carried first aid supplies along with her school and drawing stuff.

“You are an awful friend and I hope you know what.” Scorpia knew Catra was kidding.

The brunette rushed out the door and into her expensive car. She threw her bag in the back and started the engine. She cranked the heat all the way up along with the seat warmers. She didn’t mind the winter, but she loved the feel of warmth on her skin.

Catra set the built in GPS to her old school, and as predicted it was a two hour drive. She started on her journey and hoped that her drive was peaceful, she needed peaceful after what went on this morning.

Of course, the drive was not peaceful. As soon as she got on the highway, it started to snow. At first it wasn’t that bad, a few flurries here and there. But after a while a full on storm seemed like it was taking place. Catra tried to continue at a decent speed, but it was the people in front of her that was making it stressful. They were going at a snail's pace which was very trying for the brunette who was on a time crunch.

With only five minutes to spare before the game started, Catra pulled into the school gym parking lot, grabbed her bag full of supplies, and sprinted into the gym. She nearly fell from ice a few times but played it off as if nothing happened. As she got to the gym she was rushed over to the Horde bench. The head athletic trainer led her to their station so she could take off her jacket and put her bag down. It turns out she didn’t need the supplies she brought.

“Let me guess, highway traffic?”

Catra nodded. “Yea, it’s bad out there.” 

Everybody was already taped and ready to go when the game was finally set to begin. Catra and the other trainer she didn’t know the name of, sat down at their station that was beside the players bench. She had no clue who they were playing against, and even though she graduated from Horde High last year, she didn’t know half the players on the team she was supposed to be rooting for. The only player she really knew was Lonnie. As she looked out onto the court the whistle sounded and the quarter began. At first she only paid attention to the team in red, looking for her old friend. However, Catra was quickly distracted. Her attention shifted to the white team, to one player in particular. She was tall, blonde, and fit. Her hair was up in a high pony and her number thirteen jersey was tucked into her matching shorts. It wasn’t the awful uniform that made Catra gasp, it was the person wearing it.

Adora.

Catra started to slightly hyperventilate as thoughts swirled around in her mind. She hadn’t seen or spoken to the blonde in so long, and here she was, ten feet in front of her.

It was almost as if the game wasn’t even happening in front of Catra. All she focused on was Adora. The way she dribbled, how high she jumped, the way her arms flexed as she shot the ball. Catra didn’t know who was winning or losing, she honestly didn’t care. Adora was in front of her and she physically ached for any kind of interaction. 

Unfortunately, that interaction came. After sitting silently for almost an hour, Catra watched as Adora jumped up for a rebound and landed awkwardly on her left leg. A scream rang out and Adora hit the ground. Immediately the Brightmoon trainer ran over to assess the situation. The two Horde trainers soon found out how bad it was when they were mentioned to go over as well. Usually the team trainer can take of the injury themselves, but when it was worse than normal they needed all the help they could get, which meant Catra and the head trainer rushed over to Adora.

When Catra got over there she first looked at Adora, her eyes were shut. She then looked at the left leg and could automatically tell the kneecap was out of place. The brunette knelt down and gently felt the injured area with only her fingertips, not wanting to put any pressure on it. As soon as she felt the skin to skin contact a shiver ran through her body. It was almost as if Adora felt the same electricity because as soon as the touch was felt she opened her eyes. Catra watched as Adora's eyes went wide in shock.

Catra didn’t know what to do, or what to say. There were conversations surrounding them from both teams' trainers. Teammates and opponents stood around the injured player and continued to whisper. But Catra and Adora, they stayed silent and looked into each other's eyes.

After about thirty seconds of silence Catra decided to break the tension. “Hey Adora.”

It was then that Catra watched as Adora passed out from pain. It was at that moment that Catra used everything she had learned in first aid to help Adora in any way she could. She helped stabilize the leg and get Adora put on a stretcher when the paramedics arrived. She walked off the court beside the stretcher and took note of the cheers and clapping that was taking place for the injured player.

The Brightmoon head coach, trainers, as well as Catra and the other Horde trainer walked alongside the paramedics and watched as they put Adora in the back of the ambulance. She was finally starting to wake up when they shut the back doors.

“What hospital are you taking her to?” Catra needed to know.

Without hesitation the paramedic who was walking around to the driver side of the car said what hospital they were bringing Adora to. He spoke with Brightmoon's head coach and trainer then got into the truck, started the engine, and drove off.

Catra didn’t wait to see what the other trainer from the Horde was doing, she jogged back into the gym while the game was still on hold, grabbed her jacket and bag and then left. She explained to the other Horde trainer that she was going to the hospital to make sure someone was there to explain what happened with Adora to the doctors. Even though it was a blatant excuse the Horde trainer thought it was a great idea and watched Catra sprint out of the building and back into her car. 

Catra’s GPS said it would take twenty minutes to get to the hospital, it only took the brunette ten, even with the heavy snow continuing to come down. Catra’s heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to pop right out of her chest. She hadn’t seen her former friend in so long, there was no way she was going to go one more day without hearing her voice once again.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


Adora groaned as she lifted her head from the stretcher as well as her hand from under the blanket she was wrapped in. She needed to see and feel where the pain was in her leg. Her left leg was bandaged up with so many layers of medical wrap that she couldn’t even feel where her knee was supposed to be.

“Easy, Adora. You’re pretty banged up there.” Adora groaned once again as she laid her head back down on the stretcher. She was so confused with everything that was going on. Her thoughts were swarmed with pain medication the doctors had given her. At the moment she wasn’t concerned about the game, or even her leg. All she needed to figure out was if she had actually seen Catra or if her mind had made the whole thing up. She couldn’t quite figure it out.

“Okay, we are here, Adora.” The paramedics unstrapped the stretcher and opened the back door. “We are going to wheel you into the hospital, explain what happened to the best of our abilities, and the doctors will take it from there, okay?”

Adora just nodded as she closed her eyes and felt the stretcher being wheeled into the hospital. She slowly drifts to sleep from the pain medication that was now in her system.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


She doesn’t know how long she’s been out for, but when Adora opens her eyes she’s met by a pleasant surprise. She immediately started to cry when she saw who was in the room.

“Mama.” Adora opened her arms as Mara walked across the room to her daughter and engulfed her in a big hug. Adora shook as she felt the comfort of her family.

After a few minutes, the two women broke apart, both having wet cheeks from crying.

“We were so worried about you.” Mara sat down in the chair that was already close to Adora’s bed. It had been like that when she first arrived, she assumed it was one of the nurses, sitting down to check on her daughter. She took Adora’s hand and held it for comfort. “When we got the phone call from your coach, my heart sank.”

“Where’s mom?” Adora had noticed her other mom was missing. She wasn’t in the mood to carry on the conversation with her mother.

“She went to go get your stuff at the gym. She should be back soon.”

Adora looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She had never gotten injured like this before, and for it to happen during her senior year, she was heart broken. What university was going to want her now.

Trying her hardest not to cry she let go of her mother’s hand to run it through her messy blonde hair.

“Hello, Adora. I’m Dr.Angella. How are you feeling.” The tall doctor walked over to the bed, flipping through pages of paper that were on her clipboard.

Adora looked over at the doctor and couldn’t help but let out a small gasp. She was beautiful. She was tall, had long purple/pinkish hair, absolutely stunning.

“I’m alright, I guess.” Adora looked around the room to see if anyone else was going to walk in. She was looking for a certain someone.

“We were able to put your knee back in place when you were passed out from the medication, unfortunately that was the easy part.” Dr. Angella stopped flipping through the pages and held the clipboard behind her back. “You see, when you jumped up to get the ball and then landed awkwardly on your left side, it not only dislocated the knee, but from the looks of it you also tore your anterior cruciate ligament, your ACL.”

As the details about her injury were said out loud, Adora couldn’t hold it in any longer. As soon as she heard ACL, she knew it was bad. Tears started to spill from her eyes. She refused to look at anyone, not her mother, not the doctor, the ceiling was getting her undivided attention.

“We still need to take you for an MRI to fully see the extent of the surgery, a nurse is on her way to wheel you up there now.”

“How long is the recovery?” Mara had a few tears spilling from her eyes, she hated seeing her daughter in pain.

The doctor started to make her exit from the room. She stopped at the entrance way and faced Adora and her mom. “It depends. If it was just the dislocated kneecap, recovery time is six weeks. With the torn ACL, we have to look at the MRI to see the severity. It indicates whether or not you’ll have to get surgery.”

Adora let out a small cry. Everything was just getting worse.

“You’re looking at a seven to nine month recovery rate.” Mara grabbed a hold of Adora’s hand once again to try and calm the girl any way she could. She knew Adora had to be heart broken, it was obvious from the cries that were leaving her body.

“I’m sorry, Adora. The nurse will see you soon.” With that the doctor left and Adora and Mara were left to think about what was happening.

It wasn’t too long until her other mother returned with the belongings Adora had packed for the trip, and both older women went with Adora to get her MRI done.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  


Catra stayed in the waiting room for hours. When she arrived, she explained to the doctors that she was one of the trainers that was there and told them what happened. With her explanation and a physical examination of Adora’s leg, they were able to diagnose Adora with a dislocated kneecap and a torn ACL. Catra knew that wasn’t good.

Before anyone else got there she was able to go into Adora’s room to see her. When she entered the room Adora was still asleep from the heavy doses of medication. Catra looked over her, it definitely wasn’t a peaceful sleep, Catra knew what that looked like from the years of sleeping beside her in the orphanage.

Catra pulled up the chair next to Adora’s bed and sat down. She wanted so bad to see Adora’s bright blue eyes once again, she needed to hear her welcoming voice. But instead, she reached into the bag she brought and whipped out her drawing pad and a pencil. She never went anywhere without it.

She sat there for two hours drawing and that’s when she heard voices coming from the hallway. She overheard them talking about Adora, and knew that was her cue to leave. She slowly got up, saddened by the fact Adora hadn’t woken up, grabbed her bag and shoved the pad and pencil into it and walked to the room entrance. She noticed two older women talking to a doctor, thankfully their backs were towards the room. Catra rushed out of the room and walked down the opposite end of the hall. Towards the end of the hallway Catra looked back and saw the women walking into her room. She immediately recognized them, the same family that had picked Adora up from the orphanage nine years ago. The same family that took Adora away from her.

For the next few hours Catra kept walking past Adora's room to see if she was alone, making sure to never get caught. After a few hours of sitting in the waiting room, and pacing the halls, Catra got a phone call. She looked at the caller ID and saw Weaver's name. She didn’t pick up. Instead, she waited until she received a voicemail. She listened to it, rolled her eyes, then deleted it. Weaver was going on about how she noticed Catra’s car wasn’t in the parking lot when she was leaving the school. How she should have been home by now since it was hours after the game. Weaver kept going on and on about how irresponsible Catra was, staying out this late on a school night. She couldn’t even finish listening to the voicemail before she deleted it and shoved the phone back into her bag.

Catra stood up from the waiting room one last time and made her way to Adora’s hospital room. She was expecting Adora to be in there with her mothers, like she was the last three times she walked by. Instead, it was the complete opposite. No one was in there. Catra peaked in and noticed there were new objects in the room, beside the hospital bed. It was Adora’s bags. She could tell it was Adora’s belongings from the Brightmoon patches that were displayed proudly on the front. Catra hurriedly walked into the room and opened her own bag that was slung around one shoulder. She took out her drawing pad and pencil and scribbled something on the back of paper with the drawing on it. She tore it from her pad and folded it up in a square. She put her stuff back in her own bag and this time opened Adora’s. She found a physics textbook that looked like it hadn’t been open, and slid the piece of paper between the pages. She put the textbook back, zippered it up, and placed the bag where it had been before.

With one long sigh, Catra left the empty room and made her way outside to where her car was parked. She opened the door, threw her bag into the back and started up the car. She quickly wiped the snow that accumulated on the car and rushed back into the vehicle. She blasted the heat and looked at the time that was displayed in red. It was twelve-thirty AM, she had been there for five hours. With a deep sigh, Catra put her car in drive and began the long drive back to her apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to ask any questions or are just curious, my tumblr can be found [Here.](https://drunkadora.tumblr.com/)


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